Legends Old, Scales Gold
by Arguyus
Summary: Star Swirl the Bearded once prophesied that a being who's heart was the same color as his hide would be destined to save the world of Equs from cruel dominion, the time for this prophesy has come… But why must he be so young?
1. Forging of the Golden Scale

(Disclaimer: I do not own any copyrighted material you will encounter in this or any other story.)

Prologue: Forging of the Golden Scale

/\/^\/\

_Eighteen years before the return of Nightmare Moon…_

In a cave far beyond the Everfree Forest, by the border between Equestria and GemFido, a new clutch dragon eggs had just hatched. Only one had yet to follow its siblings. A small crack formed on the bronze shell as it relinquished its hold on the young life that resided inside it.

The crack continued to grow in size, until…

/\/\/\

For the first time in my life, the outside would came into the sight of my deep blue eyes. I tried to claw my way out of my egg, and promptly fell over. It was then that a large green dragoness filed my vision.

"Hello little one, I'm your mommy." She told me in a sweet voice.

I laughed and held my claws out to her as she picked me up with her much larger claws.

"Where is he, where is my little boy!?" Bellowed a deep yet happy voice from somewhere out of my sight.

My mommy turned her head to talk to the voice, "He is right here, dear."

She turned me around to see a large red dragon who had thin trails of smoke billowing from the sides of his smile. This was my daddy, I just knew it. I laughed again and once more held my claws out.

"Wow, would you just look at his colors." He said as he looked at me, "I've never seen a dragon with scales like his before, what are we going to call him?"

My mommy let out a thoughtful "Hmm" as she moved her head back into my sight, "How about, Gold Scale. I have a feeling he will bring balance too many lives someday."

My daddy laughed, "Just many? A boy this special will do that to all of Equestria!"

He reached down and tickled my tummy, and I laughed uncontrollably. I was happy, complete content… if only it stayed that way. Unfortunately, life had other plans.

My name is Gold Scale, and this is my story.

\/\/\/

\/\/


	2. Gold Gilded Bronze and Lavenders

(Disclaimer: I do not own any copyrighted material you will encounter in this or any other story.)

Chapter 1: Gold Gilded Bronze and Lavenders

/\/^\/\

I ran and ran; it's all I've done for the past few years.

I know what you're thinking, 'Why do you have to run, isn't Equestria a paradise?'. Well, that's mostly true… unless you are a dragon and live near GemFido, the homeland of the diamond dogs. If that is the case, then you really have to worry about dragon hunters. And if you have a rare scale color? Well then, you now know why I'm always running.

I had lost my pursuers some time ago, but I knew from experience that that didn't mean I was safe. I knew they were after my scales, and that they would not stop chasing me until they had them. Being the only golden dragon in existence can be a real pain.

I finally came to a clearing in the thick forest; there was a rock ledge under an old looking tree, the only light being a small shaft that came straight down from a hole in the dense canopy above. With how dark it was, I should be safe if I were to hide under the ledge, right?

So that's what I did. At first, I tried to stay awake, but I was exhausted. I slowly fell into sleep's waiting arms.

/\/\/\

A young unicorn mare made her way through the Everfree Forest, she was returning home after visiting the zebra known as Zecora. This mare was none other than Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville's resident librarian. She doesn't normally go into the strange and unnatural forest, but she had needed some plants that she couldn't get in town, so her hoof was forced in the matter.

She was walking down the little used trail that led to the zebra's hut, cautiously looking into the undergrowth for any signs of danger. She was not too keen on getting eaten by a manticore or timber wolf.

Suddenly, something started shining out in the forest. That was odd, she didn't see that earlier. Her curious nature demanded that she investigate this. So, she walked off the trail towards the reflected light.

She didn't have to walk very far before she found its source, it was coming from under a rock in a small clearing. There were two shafts of light coming from the thick leaves of the Everfree; one came straight down as long as the sun was up. The other looked like it only came though at this time of day, and it shone on the thing that hid under the rock.

The color of the thing was gold and bronze, and it almost looked like armor made out of small plates. She knew instantly what they were, dragon scales. She gently pulled it out from under the stone to get a better look at it. It was a male, the body structure made that obvious. His main body scales were gold, and his belly plates and spines were bronze. He also had two small bronze colored bumps on the back his head; they were going to become horns one day. His tail ended in a diamond shaped bronze spearhead.

It was now that she noticed how thin he was, not skin and bones though. He was only a little bit taller than Spike, but he was nowhere near as chubby as her assistant. His body was made of toned muscles; it looked like he had to use them very often. He looked only a few years older than Spike, but he didn't have anypony to take care of him.

The frown on her face slowly turned into a smile, he had somepony now. She gently placed him on her back so that he didn't wake up and began walking back onto the path.

"Excuse me, mam." A stallion's voice came from behind her.

Twilight spun around to face the speaker. It was a brown and dark tan unicorn stallion who had a light tan mane and tail that had a black stripe in the middle of both and deep green eyes, she could also see a small beard on his chin and a blood covered claymore as his cutie mark. He had three companions with him, a deep green and turquoise pegues stallion that had a blood red mane and tail and dark blue eyes, a dark blue earth pony with light blue splotches all over his body with a green mane and tail and bright yellow eyes, and a black minotaur that had red eyes and a large scare that started on the upper right side of his chest going down to the left side of his upper waist.

"We have been chasing that dragon for a few years now, and we would be very grateful if you were to give him to us." The unicorn said as he took a few steps forward.

Twilight could see the look in his eyes, and she did not like that look one bit.

"I'm sure I could make it, worthwhile, for you." He told her with an ever growing seductive look in his eyes.

The lavender mare knew what these individuals were, dragon hunters. Dragon hunting was an illegal blood sport. They are dangerous and not to be trusted. So, she did the only thing that seemed reasonable at time, run.

The lead dragon hunter, his gaze aimed more at her rear then anywhere else, watched as the mare ran from them as he gave his comrades a command, "Get them, but try not to hurt the mare too much, it's unbelievable how hard it is for a mare to give you pleasure when she has a broken leg."

The four of them began to chase her though the undergrowth laden trail that lead from the beginning of the main path to Zecora's hut.

/\/\/\

I felt something moving under me, and it was moving fast. It was this movement that brought me back to the waking world. I felt something soft under me, almost like what I've heard velvet feels like. When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was purple, just purple. Then my eyes focused to see muscles moving under a thin layer of fur.

That realization was enough to jolt what sleep that clouded my mind out of me. I bolted up so fast that I almost fell off whoever it was that I was on. It was then that I realized that the individual I was sitting on didn't have any sort of armor on them.

I took a closer look at being I was on; the long mane identified it as most likely being a mare. She was lavender purple and I could barely see a horn protruding off her head. Her mane was dark royal purple with two strips in it, one plum purple and the other hot pink.

Why is she running? I looked behind us to find out, and what I saw almost made my heart stop. It was the dragon hunters! This being, my brain kicked into overdrive. I noticed that they were running into a lot of branches as they slowly gained on us. A devious smirk came onto my face, I had a plan.

I inhaled so that my chest puffed out; then blasted amethyst purple fireballs at the branches and trees that we passed. It had the desired effect; one of the trees fell on and crushed the pegues and earth pony, the minotaur had the misfortune of getting only his hand caught under one of the trees, but I couldn't see what happed to the unicorn.

Finally, after so many years of running, I was safe.

/\/\/\

The unicorn hissed in pain as he took his hoof off his left eye, it was burned beyond recovery. He cast his gaze in the direction the mare and the dragon went, a snarl forming on his face. The minotaur walked over to him holding the stump that use to be his right hand.

"This isn't the last ether of you two have seen of Crimson Claymore." The unicorn vowed, "Come on Reaper, let's go back to GemFido and regroup."

/\/\/\

We finally exited the forest, and the mare turned to look behind us. I sighed heavily when I didn't see any signs of our pursuers, and the mare's breath evened out.

"Well, I think we lost them." I said to try and start a conversation.

The mare nodded her head, "Yea, but why are dragon hunters this deep into Equestria?"

"Have you ever even heard of a golden dragon before you saw me?" I asked her.

"No."

I simply crossed my arms and stated, "There you go, I ran here and they followed."

She turned her face towards me; my deep blue eyes met her amethyst ones. Her eyelashes and short snout confirmed the fact that she was a mare. She had a disturbed look on her face.

"But, why didn't your parents protect you from this?"

That question hit me, because I knew exactly why, "The hunters first came while my dad was out, and my mom did try to protect me and my siblings… and she paid for it with her life; I was the only one who was able to get away, and I had over twenty siblings."

She moved a hoof over her mouth in shock, "Oh my, I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to bring up such bad memories. But don't worry, I promise to take care of you as best I can."

I gave her an appreciative smile, "Thanks, my name is Gold Scale, by the way."

"Twilight Sparkle." She told me before she started walking once more, "Now, let's get to your new home so we can get some well-deserved rest."

\/\/\/

\/\/

(AN: Hello readers, this is the first story I have written on the laptop that I got for Christmas this year. I won't be able to update all of my stories, but I'll do the best I can with those I am able to. Next chapter, Scale meets his new family.)


End file.
